


where it all went wrong

by hollow_city



Series: broken hearts & twisted minds [8]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Canonical Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 06:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11571828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollow_city/pseuds/hollow_city
Summary: every muscle in his body hurts. every tendon feels stretched to its limit. it's as if his body is telling him to stop, to lie down, to give in, give up. but he can't.[in which bruce tried, but not hard enough.]





	where it all went wrong

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know what the creators of this prompt were expecting but i'm sure it wasn't this. title is from the ridiculously beautiful and amazing song organs by of monsters and men.

_**Every muscle in his body hurts. Every tendon feels stretched to its limit. It's as if his body is telling him to stop, to lie down, to give in, give up. But he can't. If he can't get there in time,**_ then it's all over. He will have failed.

But he's not so vain to only be worried about having a failure on his record. That is the least of his worries. He would rather be coined the multiverse's largest disappointment than be coined the person who allowed this to happen. 

All of the rage and unfiltered fear trapped inside escapes with a savage cry as he wills himself to go faster. He just needs to be a little faster.

His mind counts down for him and it only proves to make things worse because he is a logical man, and every piece of his brain is telling him that there is no way he will ever make it. But who will he be if he doesn't put every fiber of his being trying?

He can see where he's supposed to be now, and he's so damn close that the tight stress in his chest releases and he forces that little bit of hope to kill itself immediately because he is not there yet. 

"Hold on," he says as if it means anything at all.

And it doesn't. The sky lights up orange and the air fills with smoke and his ears ring with the sheer volume of it. It makes his stomach turn and his heart beat at an unhealthy rate and he just will not accept this as a reality. 

So he will abandon his bike and he will run where he can and climb where he can't, but it will not make a difference.

He will hold his son's body and tears will fill the cowl and he will try to bring him back, even though he will know he cannot.

He will bring the body home and he will fall down a path of self-destruction. He will see his son's face plastered all over the news and it will torture him and everybody who really knows him will tell him that it's not his fault. 

But it won't matter. Because it  _is_ his fault, and that will be the one thing that nearly destroys him. 


End file.
